


A Proper Thank-You

by orphan_account



Category: Avatar: Legend of Korra
Genre: AU, Depression, Developing Relationship, F/M, Hurt/Comfort, M/M, Smut, non-canon
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2012-08-18
Updated: 2012-08-19
Packaged: 2017-11-12 09:00:17
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 3,853
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/489101
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/orphan_account/pseuds/orphan_account
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Korra meets Tahno again after restoring his bending and discovers that he's not who she thinks he is.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Surprises

**Author's Note:**

> Almost late to the party here—I didn’t remember that the Tahorra party was this weekend until…well, today.

In retrospect, this had been a spectacularly _bad idea._ Tenzin had been urging Korra to spend more time with friends in some misguided belief that it would help her with her spirituality. When Bolin had heard, he immediately proposed a night on the town with her and his boyfriend Iroh.

Korra supposed she should be glad he’d had the tact to choose a night when Mako would be at work. Their breakup three weeks ago had been messy; she still couldn’t figure out why Mako was so against remaining friends with Asami, but he’d been adamant about it to the point of breaking off their relationship because she wouldn’t just ditch a person who’d given up everything to help her. She was past the grieving stage and into the mad as hell stage, and she’d be damned if she would have gone out to eat with _him_ even if Bolin had begged.

As they slid into their seats at Narook’s Noodlery her skin prickled, goosebumps crawling up her toned arms and ending in a sense of deja vu. She glanced to the booth where she’d first met Tahno, reminded of him by the creeped-out sensation she was getting. It was empty, though the Wolfbats posters remained. Pro-bending had resumed a month ago, and the team was going strong after she’d restored their bending. Stronger than Bolin’s rebuilt Fire Ferrets, at any rate.

“Earth to Korrrraaa…” Bolin was waving his hands in her face.

“Oh. Sorry, Bolin. I was just trying to decide what I wanted.”

“Go with the sea prune udon! It’s got this weird sort of chewy texture to the—oh, not again.”

Korra turned, to find the sleazebag himself oozing his way into the seat beside her. Tahno’s arm slid up hers _(goosebumps again—Tui and La, why did he provoke such a strong reaction from her?),_ finally settling around her shoulders as if he owned her. Her face contorted with incredulity, and she pushed his arm off violently, shoving him out of the seat. He landed on the ground.

“What the HELL do you think you’re doing?”

He smirked, picking himself off the ground, and brushed himself off.

“Hello to you too, Uhvatar. I thought I’d give you a proper thank-you for restoring my bending. Treat you and your little friends here to a meal. I can arrange for something a little more _private_ , if you’d prefer?”

Korra blushed. Her mind flashed back to how he’d looked at the station—dejected, defeated, depressed. She supposed if she made friends with him, Tenzin might get off her back about spending more time with people. And it wouldn’t hurt to have him pay for dinner; she was hungry, and the yuans in her pocket wouldn’t go far.

“Fine. Sit down and don’t talk too much. You know Bolin. This is his boyfriend Iroh—by the way, Iroh, you can put out that flame. Tahno can be a real jerk but it’s not like he’s _dangerous_ or anything.”

Tahno scoffed.

“One of these days I’m going to get you alone, Uhvatar. Then you’ll see just how dangerous I am.”

——-

Hours later, Korra was regretting her decision to leave Air Temple Island. Bolin had gotten drunk on sake, singing karaoke with Iroh. Tahno kept smirking at her (his usual protocol, she’d noticed), and occasionally she’d bump into him. When she touched him a fizzy sort of energy shot into her belly, and she knew what that meant. What she didn’t know was _why_ she’d have feelings for this creep. Sure, he was attractive, and maybe he wasn’t _all_ bad if the hug he’d given her when she restored his bending meant anything, but he was invasive by nature.

Korra’s reverie was interrupted when Iroh dropped a nearly-unconscious Bolin into the seat across from her. Tahno was folding napkins into birds, pointedly following her orders regarding speech. She guffawed—it was ridiculously out of character for him. He stuck his tongue out and launched a swan at her. She dodged, but not fast enough. It hit her in the nose, and war was declared.

When a stray bird hit Iroh, who had been watching them with a sort of tired fascination, he flicked it back at them. It bounced off a glass on the table and hit Bolin, whose only response was to snore loudly. The three laughed in concert, and Iroh grinned.

“I guess I’d better get him home. If he’s too tired to join in on a good fight, he’s too tired to be in public. Will you two be okay?”

“Pfft. I’m the Avatar, I can handle one measly Wolfbat.”

——-

Once Iroh and Bolin left, Korra lifted the ban on talking out of sheer boredom.

“Sooo…what do you do for fun? I have to admit, I wasn’t expecting cute little paper birds out of you.”

Tahno rolled his eyes. “My Aunt Mei insisted I learn. Something about traditional culture, blah blah. I guess it came in handy tonight. I paint, too. I actually did a piece of you, after Amon took my bending. There wasn’t much else for me to do, and it was sort of calming. Using the watercolors was the closest thing to waterbending that I had left, although admittedly I wasn’t as good at it without the bending.”

“Wow. That’s unexpected. You know, you seem like a totally different person sometimes. You don’t have, like, multiple personalities or anything, do you?”

Tahno smiled wryly, and cast his eyes downwards. “Sort of. Leave it to the Avatar to figure me out. When I moved to the city I learned quickly that it’s best to be arrogant, in charge. I was just a little boy. Nobody would take me seriously as a pro-bender unless I acted like an ass. I guess it sort of stuck, a bit. There aren’t really many times where I’m not under scrutiny. But I’m not really that bad.”

Korra was dumbstruck. She’d been kidding, but she could see it wasn’t a lie. He was talking to her like a decent human being. He wasn’t, for lack of a better term, _oozing._ And she hadn’t missed the fact that he’d called her by her proper title.

“Wow. That’s…new.” She slung her arm robustly around his slender frame. “Tell you what, Tahno. I need someone to take my mind off things. A friend who isn’t stuck in this stupid breakup drama with Mako. If you’ll hang out with me, I’ll let you be yourself. I won’t tell anyone, and we can even do it in private somewhere so you don’t have to ruin your image. What do you say?”

His expression brightened, and he regained a bit of a smirk. Korra thought she could detect a genuine smile under it, though.

“You’ve got a deal, _Korra._ I live at 801 Dragon Flats. Come by tomorrow and we’ll see if we can’t figure each other out.”


	2. Depression

Tahno’s door opened to reveal a meticulously-tidied front room. Korra left her mud-stained boots at the door and followed him to the kitchen, where he began making tea.

“Jasmine or Chai?”

“Chai please. So where are all these paintings of yours?”

Tahno sighed. “Confirming that I’m the sensitive artiste that I claimed to be? Are you afraid I’ll lead you to the bedroom and ravage you?”

“Pfft. As if. And I see the sarcasm isn’t affected.”

His teeth flashed. “Puh-lease, as if sass of this high a level could possibly be faked.”

Tahno opened a door on the other side of the kitchen. When Korra followed him inside, she gasped. The room was small, but it was filled nearly floor-to-ceiling with beautiful paintings. Most were in muted tones, but the flow of the lines made the pictures look surreal. The colors looked like they were happy to be in the exact spot they’d landed in, as if the shapes they’d landed in were fated. There were landscapes, portraits, abstracts that flowed in and out of each other. She’d never been moved by art before, but this was emotional work.

“You like?”

She gaped. “I’ve…I’ve never even…is this how you feel?”

Tahno cast his eyes down again, and spoke carefully. “Sometimes. It’s a relief to let the brush go where it wants, but I guess it turns out a bit more melancholic than I intend most of the time.”

Korra finally took a breath. “Could I try? Where’s the picture of me you said you did? I don’t see it.”

Tahno cringed. “I don’t…that one was done at a really dark time for me. I don’t think you’d like it. But I’ll teach you the basics, if you’d like to try.”

——-

Tahno set her up with a set of watercolors and a blank canvas. Despite his instruction, Korra couldn’t get the hang of it and threw her brush down in exasperation.

“Why do we even NEED the brush? We’re waterbenders. Just do it like this.”

Korra flicked a wrist, sending a dab of water from the cup on the table into the block of blue dye. Pointing at the canvas, she drilled the dyed water into it, outlining a flower furiously. The color began to drip, and she pulled the liquid from it forcefully, leaving behind a super-concentrated blue.

Tahno was gawping at her as if she’d murdered someone.

“That’s not…we use brushes for texture, and for finer control. You can’t just abandon years of fine art, Korra,” he choked out.

“I can do what I want, pretty boy. Besides, that blue is a much happier looking blue than yours. Yours are all depressive.”

It was the wrong thing to say. He sank to the floor and began to softly cry.

_Shit. Shit, shit shit._ This wasn’t the Tahno she was used to, confident in his abilities and looking down on the world. The real him had issues, and she wasn’t helping them.

“Gods, Tahno, I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to make you feel bad.” Korra flopped down beside him, pulling him into a rough hug. “I really have to start thinking before I blab.”

He laid his head on her shoulder. “I’m sorry, I know I shouldn’t have taken that so hard. It’s just…I _am_ depressive, Korra. And I spend my life pretending I’m okay. Worse, I’m _good_ at it. Sometimes I even believe myself.”

“Why are you telling me all of this, Tahno? I’m no closer to you than your team-mates, or any of your fangirls.” Korra fidgeted awkwardly, trying to puzzle out their sudden relational intimacy.

“Heh. Well, you figured me out at Narook’s, and before I knew it I was telling you the secret that could ruin my rebuilt career. Maybe it’s because you’re the Avatar. Probably more because you’ve never been afraid of me, never really bought into it.”

“I did. You creeped me the hell out. I’m just too stubborn to show it. I guess that’s a testament to your acting skills though, because you honestly don’t seem that bad,” confessed Korra.

They sat in silence, contemplating each other’s words. Korra was a stranger to introspective thought, but it seemed important to think about why she was here, cradling a near-stranger and coaxing out his life’s secrets. It hit her hard when she realized it was because she identified with him. She led two lives too, although not as opposed as his. She was the Avatar. And she was just a confused teenager. When she’d been stripped of her powers, she’d felt like dying. What she had wanted most at that time was someone who understood her.

Korra shifted, moving behind him so that his head was in her lap. She reached a hand forward to twine her fingers around his. Tahno froze, uncomfortable, and then relaxed against her.

“Have you ever thought about being a painter? I mean, you’re good at the pro-bending thing, but you’ve definitely got talent here, too. It might be easier on you, not having to live a lie.”

He spoke softly. “I have. I may someday. But I don’t think I’m good enough to make a living with art just yet. And people buy happy paintings, anyways.”

Korra acted on gut instinct. She brushed aside Tahno’s hair with her free hand and kissed him softly on the forehead.

“Then we’ll just have to get you happier, huh?” she whispered against him.

At this, the tension seemed to drain out of him. Tahno took a deep, steadying breath.

“I do know one way you could make me happy.”

Korra quirked her head inquisitively at him. He reached up tentatively and cupped her cheek with a soft hand. Leaning up, Tahno drew her into a kiss.

It was soft, sweet, chaste. Everything she’d thought Tahno was incapable of just days ago. Part of her wanted to rebel, to pull away at the memory of what he had been. But another part of her remembered the loneliness of her depression at the cliffside, the thankful look in Tahno’s eyes after she’d restored his bending, and the deep emotions he’d shared only with canvas. Maybe Tahno wasn’t such a bad guy after all.

His lips parted from hers, leaving them tingling lightly.

“Be my girlfriend?”

Korra pursed her lips thoughtfully then nodded, pulling him back into the kiss.


	3. Properly Thankful

The two spent weeks together. They painted, cooked, and played Pai Sho. Well—Tahno cooked, anyways. Korra would probably just burn something down. But she was more than happy to eat his food, and he grew more cheerful as she complimented his cooking and his kissing. It showed in his painting; while he still used a brush, his waterbending left the colors more vivid and bright than they had been before.

Their relationship hadn’t physically progressed beyond kissing, though Korra had fantasized. She knew from their conversations that Tahno was experienced; as part of his public persona he’d been forced to take women he cared nothing for into his bed. The confessionals, as he called them, were always rough occasions, but it helped him to admit to what he thought of as sins. The talks helped the pair grow closer, and Korra slowly reformed her thoughts on who Tahno was.

——-

One day as she watched him paint, Korra asked again about the painting he’d done of her.

Tahno dropped his brush and grabbed her hands, serious.

“I’ll show you if you want. Just…you’ve been good about this, okay, but don’t judge me. Like I said, it was a bad time and I was getting out some really weird emotions.”

Korra nodded, intrigued. He removed one of the pictures on the wall to reveal the portrait underneath it. She understood now why he’d been afraid to show her—it was a full-body nude. She laughed.

“This is what you think I look like naked? As if. I’m nowhere near that feminine, Tahno.”

Tahno reddened. His low voice was hoarse with emotion. “Don’t think I’m some kind of perv. It was just the only positive thing I had to think about then. That maybe you’d get Amon and restore my bending. You were my only hope.”

Korra appraised the picture. She was rendered softly, blending into the midnight blue waves behind her (or was it a dark sky?). It almost seemed like homage to a goddess.

“Well, I’m much too skinny here, for one. I have more meat on my bones, you know? And I have scars, too. From training, and fighting.” She peeled her top off, twisting to demonstrate the long scar down her side.

Tahno was averting his eyes. “I believe you, geez. You don’t have to strip.”

Korra enjoyed flustering him. Flustered Tahno was at odds with Public Tahno, and she enjoyed getting a reaction from him.

“It’s not like I’m naked. See, I have breast bands on and everything.” She rubbed her wrappings up against him wickedly to illustrate. He groaned.

“I bet you have some scars too.” Korra grabbed Tahno’s crisp black tunic and pulled it over his head in one quick motion. He gasped lightly as she trailed her fingers over his pale skin, dragging her fingernails over his nipples and down to a small scar on his ribcage.

“There. I can’t believe you have only one though. I wonder where else you might have them?”

She kissed down his body to his pants, but he stopped her before she could pull them off, hesitant.

“Korra. You don’t have to do this.”

“ _Have_ to? Tahno, part of me’s been wanting this since you faced me down and offered private lessons.”

He smirked, and the silken purr returned to his voice when he replied. “Really, now? Then I’ve been an idiot for not acting on my urges.” Tahno caught her off guard with a burst of dominance and pushed her against the wall, peppering her neck and collarbone with passionate kisses.

Korra’s breath caught in her throat when he loosened her chest wrap and pressed his tongue to her dark nipples with vigor. Aggressive Tahno was a nice change of pace. “So, uh…is this how you really are during sex? It’s not just an act?”

Tahno moved her hand to his erection. “Does it _feel_ like I’m acting? I really am good at sex. But this is…this is the first time I’ve ever gotten this far with someone I actually had feelings for. You drive me crazy, Korra. But I didn’t want you to think I really was a sleaze.”

Korra snorted, and swept him off his feet. “If anyone’s a sleaze it’s me. I think it’s time for our private lessons to progress beyond painting, pretty boy.” She carried him into his bedroom, brushing past the bathrobe hanging on the door, and tossed him unceremoniously down on the bed. Then they were pulling at remaining clothing, tossing it over the edge of the bed, and pressing their heated bodies together.

Tahno ended up on top, and pinned her arms down. Korra was surprised by the strength in his lithe figure. He snarled into her ear around bites and kisses. “No. You are not on top today. I am in charge of this because I deserve something nice, darling.”

“Glad to see you finally got that into your thick skull, _honey_ ,” she said with mock sweetness, but she gave up her resistance.

He bit and licked his way down her dusky body, hands rubbing frantically against her curves. When Tahno reached her core he deliberately parted her legs, and sunk his head into her. His hair blended with her dark curls as he gave a long, exaggerated sniff.

“Ah, I love the smell of you. It’s sex and salt and the ocean, all rolled into one.” Tahno kissed the inside of one thigh, then the other, and then plunged between her lower lips to tongue her clitoris. Korra arced up into him, crying out in pleasure.

“Mm! Yes, there!” He decisively added two fingers, and her eyes slammed shut as she raced towards her peak. His skilled tongue was driving her mad. She came with a small shout, and he removed his fingers only after she was completely spent.

“I win,” drawled Tahno.

“Wha—?” Korra asked blearily. “That felt like I won. What do you even mean?”

“Never mind.”

Tahno moved back on top of her, rubbing his hard length against her saturated entrance. He groaned, voice lower than usual with need.

“Korra, are you sure—” He was cut off when she angled herself upwards, sinking the head of his cock into her. His eyes flashed, and Korra could tell he was plotting vengeance for her sudden takeover.

Tahno withdrew completely, then drove his tip back into her, but not as far as she wanted. It seemed he was in a teasing mood; he withdrew and penetrated just the head over and over, until she was out of her mind with need.

“Tahno, please. I want—”

“That’s more like it,” he purred smoothly. He thrust, and swiftly filled her.

Tahno held her close as he began to move, and Korra was awed that they’d ever been enemies. They fit together so well, he felt like her second half. As he picked up speed, she kissed him with a fierce sort of pride that she’d salvaged him from the wreckage that the Equalists had left in their wake.

Tahno’s hands were everywhere, his tongue was expertly tracing along her nipples and lips, and his hips fit perfectly against her body as he slammed into her. Korra’s breath grew faint as she neared her peak, and Tahno seemed to sense it. His hand left her side to rub her clitoris in firm, consistent circles. His teeth lightly tugged at her neck, alternating with little strokes of his tongue, and it pushed her over the edge.

As her body’s built-up tension drained away, Korra let out the air she’d been holding in. It blew back Tahno’s hair as he gave a final few emphatic pumps and came inside of her with a sultry moan. Korra laughed, and Tahno responded with a look of injured pride.

“I can’t say I’ve ever had anyone _laugh_ before. Was it that bad?”

“No. It was just funny to see your hair floating around you while you had that serious sex look on your face. You’re still sexy as hell, I promise.” Korra pulled him into a kiss.

“Good. Although I’m going to have to kill you now for messing up my hair.”

——-

When Korra woke the next morning, Tahno was gone. Tenzin was going to kill her for staying out, but it was about time she told everybody she was dating Tahno anyways. The look on Mako’s face was going to be priceless.

She wandered the house looking for a note detailing where he’d gone, but found him in the painting room working on a new portrait of her. It was similar to the original, but the colors were more lively. It looked more accurate, too; it reflected her muscular form and the scars scattered on her dark skin.

“Hey, Korra. Figured I’d let you sleep in. Mostly because when I tried to wake you up, you tried to kill me.”

“Did I? I don’t even remember that. What prompted the re-do?”

Tahno raised an eyebrow lasciviously. “Having had access to the original, I thought my picture had a lot to improve on. Though even my amazing art can hardly live up to you, my dear.”

Korra pulled Tahno under her arm and ruffled his hair. “You seem more like your public self this morning, but it’s not all bad if it gets me compliments like that.”

Tahno extracted himself, scowling at her as he smoothed his precious hair. “Thanks to you I’ve come to terms with the fact that I’m sort of a blend of my two selves. You’re just going to have to get used to the new and improved Tahno.” He struck a dramatic pose. “Vaguely assish pro-bender by day, voracious sex fiend by night. Savior of the Avatar’s love life. And painter extraordinaire at all times of day.”

Korra kissed her Wolfbat possessively.

“I can deal with that.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I couldn't resist some nods towards Ask Housewife Tahno, the best blog on the Internet. I could see him painting, I honestly could. Hope you enjoyed!


End file.
